Cumquat Pickle Tonica Cocktail

Cumquat Pickle Tonica Cocktail is a refreshing Spanish style Pickle Gin Tonic or Pickle Gin Tonica using Sweet Spiced Cumquat or Kumquat Pickles and their brine as a souring agent and accent of uplifting citrus and spice and a beautiful golden garnish. Cumquat Pickles are like little spiced sour marmalade lolly flavour bombs and make a beautiful and deliciously tart-sweet-spiced garnish for a Spring Gin Tonica with a Strawberry Gin paired with a Mediterranean Tonic and spices to match the pickles in the form of star anise, pink pepper and cardamom, all served over blocks of clear ice in a Copa de Balon or Gin Tonica glass.

History of the Gin & Tonic Cocktail

The Gin and Tonic Cocktail recipe has a long history with the first print reference to the drink appearing in The Oriental Sporting Magazine in 1868 in an article on the Sealkote Races – at this time quinine from Cinchona Bark in Tonic Water was used as a medicine to treat Malaria (for more on this see Greene 2022: 319-320). George Joy in the Oriental Sporting Magazine (1868: 838) writes:

“Loud cries of ‘gin and tonic’, ‘brandy and soda’, ‘cheroots,’ &c. told us the party was breaking up for the night…”

George Joy (1869) Sealkote Races,-1868. The Oriental Sporting Magazine, Volume 1, No. 11, 16 November 1868, 838.

A Gin and Tonic recipe appears in Charles H Baker’s (1939: 39) The Gentleman’s Companion cocktail manual calling for Gin, Tonic Water, ice and a lime twist. A key component of Charles Baker’s (1939: 39) recipe for a Gin and Tonic is a refreshing sour element brought in through carbonation and made complex by bitterness from quinine in the Tonic along with the essential aromatics of lime peel that accentuate the sourness of the carbonated Tonic. Baker (1939: 39) writes of how to make the Gin and Tonic and underscores the medicinal qualities of the drink indicating that over indulgence in what is essentially a medicinal preparation results in a terrible hangover where you feel like a reanimated long dead Mummy or as he puts it ‘Ramesses II, réchauffé’:

“This is merely a gin Highball, using dry or old Tom gin – either 1 or 1 ½ jiggers – and  filled up with chilled Quinine Tonic water…2 lumps of iced, and a twist of lime peel…remember it is a medicine and not primarily a stimulant only. On more than one occasion we have temporarily shown aberration on this subject,  with the result that our ears rang unmercifully and next day we felt like Ramesses II, réchauffé.”

Charles H Baker (1939: 39) The Gentleman’s Companion. The Derrydale Press: New York.

What is a Gin Tonic or Tonica Cocktail? Contemporary Spanish style Gin & Tonic

A Gin Tonica or Tonica Cocktail is a Spanish style Gin & Tonic or Gin Tonic comprising specially paired styles of Gin matched with contrasting or complementary flavoured Tonics, finished with fancy botanical garnishes including spices, herbs and fruits, vegetables and edible flowers. Accents of Liqueur, Aperitif, Fortified Wines including Vermouth, Amaro, Bitters or other ingredients such as jam or citrus juice may be used to draw out different flavour notes in the Gin and Tonic. David T. Smith (2017: 6) in Gin Tonica writes that the Spanish style Gin Tonica although known from the 1980’s, came to prominence in 2008-9 in Northern Spain, in the Basque region, appearing in the UK by 2011. David T. Smith (2017: 6) in Gin Tonica writes:

“So what is the Spanish Gin Tonica? It is a particular type of serve for a Gin and Tonic, using a large balloon-shaped glass, lots of ice and a colourful and aromatic garnish.”

David T. Smith (2017: 6) Gin Tonica. Ryland, Peters & Small: London.

Spanish Gin Tonica Gin to Tonic Ratio: 1:4

In David T. Smith’s recipes 1 ¾ oz. Gin is mixed with up to 5-6 3/4 oz. Tonic Water, but the ratio may be varied to taste or to suit a particular recipe if there are other lengtheners such as lime juice. A typical Spanish Gin Tonica may have a ratio of around 1:4 parts Gin to Tonic – for more about the Gin Tonica, see my post on Rainforest Gin Tonica. The typical ratio for a classic Gin and Tonic is 1:2, 1 part Gin to 2 parts Tonic, so the Spanish style Tonica has more Tonic, to sip slowly over large rocks of ice in a Copa de Balon.

How do you make a Gin Tonic or Tonica Cocktail? Build in the Glass

The Gin Tonica is built in the glass – in a special Copa de Balon glass or large Red Wine glass – over generous size rocks of clear ice, and finished with fancy and beautifully coloured aromatic botanical garnishes. The glassware itself is important in offering a way to experience more closely the aromatics of the drink while holding the stem allows the drinker to avoid the intense coldness from the ice.

How is the Pickle Cumquat Gin Tonica Cocktail Different: Pickle Twist on the Tonica

The Cumquat Pickle Tonica Cocktail offers a unique pickle twist on the contemporary Spanish style Gin Tonica using spiced Cumquat Pickle Brine as a souring agent that also brings in a little sweetness, citrus notes and spice from star anise, cardamom and pink pepper, these are echoed in the garnish of a Cumquat Pickle and the same spices as aromatic botanical garnishes.

Gin & Tonic Pairings for the Cumquat Pickle Gin Tonica

I have made this recipe with three combinations of Gin and Tonic – each works well with the citrussy tart-sweet, spiced Cumquat Pickles and Cumquat Pickle Brine:

• Strawberry Gin, Poor Tom’s,  with Mediterranean Tonic, Fever Tree (pictured)
• Coffee Gin, St. Ali’s/Young Henry’s,  with Coastal Tonic, Strangelove
• Japanese Gin, Roku, with Mediterranean Tonic, Fever Tree

Strawberry-Strawberry Gum-Cumquat Pickle-Citrus

The combination of sweet-tart fruity strawberry amplified by strawberry gum in the Gin and sweet-tart citrussy cumquat in the pickles is lovely drawing out fruitiness and refreshing tartness made complex with sweet warming star anise, cooling cardamom and fruity peppery notes of pink pepper from the pickles and their spiced White Wine Vinegar brine, paired well with citrus notes of Mediterranean Tonic.

Cascara-Enigma Hops-Angelica-Cumquat Pickle-Salt Bush

Citrussy tart-sweet cumquat works well with the fruitiness of Cascara in Coffee Gin, Salt Bush notes in Coastal Tonic accentuate this combination.

Yuzu-Cumquat Pickle-Citrus

Fruitiness of yuzu in Japanese Gin is also complemented by citrussy tart sweet cumquat flavour, paired with citrus notes in Mediterranean Tonic.

Tips: How to Make Clear Ice

My method for making clear ice is adapted from Dave Arnold’s (2014) How to Making Clear Ice in Your Freezer in Liquid Intelligence – here working on a small scale to fit a modest home fridge freezer. You only need some everyday kitchenware – a 1.5 Litre plastic lunch box and an insulated lunch bag that will fit the lunch box. Simply boil filtered water and pour carefully into the lunch container which is already inside the insulated lunch box. Allow to cool undisturbed and place in the freezer until frozen solid. Once frozen solid when ready to use remove from the freezer to temper or slightly melt to make it easier to cut rocks of ice – to do this carefully use a serrated bread knife. My tip is to hold the large block of ice using a clean tea towel while cutting to avoid it slipping. Discard any cloudy ice. Any additional rocks of ice that you cut can be stored in a clean container in the freezer for future use, or simply cut off what you need and place the rest of your block back in the freezer for future use.

How to Make Sweet Spiced Cumquat Pickles

Cumquat Pickles with sweet spices preserves fresh in season Winter and Spring cumquats in White Wine vinegar with a little sugar and star anise, pink pepper and cardamom. This recipe is inspired by one of my favourite Cornersmith (Elliott-Howery & Grant 2016: 234)recipes but offers a unique spice blend of star anise, pink pepper and cardamom, the Cornersmith ones use cummin, black pepper, cinnamon and cloves. I have made Cumquat Pickles at larger scale and with slightly different ingredients using coconut sugar and the addition of fennel seeds and ginger. This version uses plain caster sugar to allow for a more intense gold colour and a simple unique blend of 3 spices: star anise, cardamom and pink pepper.

Before cooking cumquats wash them well in warm clean water and remove the small green stalks from the ends. Cumquats are first gently cooked in the spiced brine made  of white wine vinegar, sugar, star anise, cardamom and pink pepper, to soften the hard outer skins of the cumquats and once packed into jars with spices and brine, heat treated meaning they have an extended shelf life of up to 2 years if kept in a dark, cool place. Refrigerate once opened and use within 6 months. Cumquat Pickles are like little sour lolly flavour bombs with delicious, spiced sour-sweet marmalade flavour – they make great cocktail garnishes. The spiced Cumquat Pickle brine can be used in place of citrus in cocktails for a sour element that additionally adds complex flavour from the combination of white wine vinegar, sugar, cumquats and sweet spices. See for example my post on Golden Cumquat Pickle Martini. The longer the pickles are laid down in storage the more the flavours develop and become complex and the jammier and thicker the brine will become.

How to Make a Cumquat Pickle Tonica: Build in the Glass

The Cumquat Pickle Tonica is built in the glass in a Copa de Balon or large Red Wine Glass over large rocks of clear ice with Gin added first, then pickle brine, then tonic, finally the garnishes are added the spices first and finally a Cumquat Pickle. I do not stir the cocktail as the carbonated tonic does an excellent job of mixing the ingredients. The garnishes selected add aromatics and colourful visual presentation as well as a sour-sweet explosion of spiced complex Cumquat Pickle to finish. Each spice in addition to aromatics has chemesthetic qualities or sensations – star anise offers liquorice flavour and a sweet warming sensation, while cardamom has a cooling or mint like sensation and pink pepper offers a warming fruity peppery sensation. All are present in the complex aged Cumquat Pickles and brine amplified by the amazing cumquat sweet citrussy aroma from the peel and sour taste of the cumquat fruit and the White Wine Vinegar in the brine making for a golden coloured citrussy sweet-sour-spice explosion of intense layered complex sour flavour.

Styling & Photographing the Cumquat Pickle Gin Tonica

The styling for this cocktail is all about the golden colour of the Cumquat Pickles which I have accentuated through shooting against a golden velvet backdrop with a yellow background and the bubbles in the carbonated Tonic Water.